Our little girl is growing up . . .

Meredith is 3 years old. She is becoming more independent and more capable every day. Her brain is also developing at almost terrifying rates. I think that the best indication of her ever developing intellect is the change in her questions. You know that typical Why? question that every growing child asks - well, while Meredith still asks a great deals of why questions, she is starting to ask questions during the day that are a great deal more complex and require a great deal of effort in our part to answer or to try to evade. The last few weeks led to two interesting and greatly difficult questions that I would like to share with you.

Question #1: For almost 9 months Meredith was aware that there was a baby in Mommy's tummy. Then Wyatt came home and the baby was no longer in Mommy's tummy. So, the other day while we were having a family breakfast - pretty much out of no where Meredith turns to us and asks - "How did the baby get in your tummy Mama?"

Well let me tell you. That was not a question I was prepared to answer. I looked at Ryan and he looked at me and I don't think that either one of us knew how to proceed. My next reaction was to ask Meredith is I could answer her question later, which she promptly answered with a resounding NO! Then Daddy stepped in with a distracting comment and the question was averted for another day.

You know I have a degree in Health Science Education - part of my eduction focused on the education of Human Sexuality. I thought I was prepared to answer this question when Meredith was 7 or 8, maybe even 5 or 6 - but I was not prepared to answer this question to a 3 year old. WHAT? She is 3 - I am still working on teaching her the proper anatomical terms for our body parts and let me tell you the arrival of Wyatt has greatly complicated that endeavor, but conception - I am going to have to do some serious research on this, so next time it comes up I can tackle it head on.

Question #2: I don't know - can't remember what we were watching on TV. But we were having some family TV time, so it was probably something rated PG or less. And somebody said something about God. Meredith, again, turns to us and asks, "What is a God?" Well, I was stumped how to you explain God to a 3 year old in terms that she was understand, esp. when you are 31 and don't always know how to answer that question to yourself.

Our little girl is growing up. I am proud. I am excited. I am terrified. And I have heart palpitations when I think about that fact that we will have to do it all again with a boy.

Love Every Day.

Wyatt Dacing to the Music in his Soul.

Wyatt's First Month

Wyatt came home on September 30th, 2009.

When we left the hospital he was 7lb 6oz and 20 inches.

He came home to meet his big sister for the first time.

A his 2 week doctors appt. he weighed 8 lb 6 oz and was 21 1/8 inches long.

At his 1 month doctors appointment his weight was 10 lb 14 oz and he was 22 1/2 inches long.

Things that Wyatt likes:

1. Eating.

2. His Sister Meredith, esp. when she sings to him.

3. Toby Keith song - why me?

4. Dancing around to really loud music.

5. Going for a walk in his carrier or his stroller.

6. His Daddy rocking him.

Things Wyatt DOES NOT like:

1. Sleeping between the hours of 12a and 6am.

2. Sleeping on his back.

3. His pacifier.

4. A dirty diaper.

5. Being bored or ignored.

He is growing SO fast it feels unbelievable. He is amazing and definitely a learning opportunity for all of us.

Meredith's First Bike Ride!

Meredith has been practicing and last weekend she got it! GO MEREDITH!

Happy Halloween!

This year Halloween was a hoot.  We had two beautiful kids ready to dress up and get their treats.  We started with a few decorations.  Our pumpkins were the coolest - thank you Mimi.

Our Halloween started on Thursday with a costume parade at Meredith's school.  She dressed up as a ballerina and went trick or treating in her school parking lot.  Wyatt and I were there cheering her on. 

After the amazing parade we moved into Meredith's class to have a Halloween Party.  There Wyatt and I got to pass out all kinds of YUMMY junk food for Meredith and her cronies.

(See Peter Pan - Meredith's best friend in school.)

Saturday was a lovely day.  It started off with a leisurely trip to the library.  We read, played on the computer and had our first experience with feeding Wyatt in the middle of a public building.  Woohoo us!

Then we had a lovely lunch that we did not have to cook and we followed it up with the Georgia-Florida Game.  Go Gators!

When the game was over it was trick or treat time.  Meredith was a firefighter.  Wyatt was a sort-of Frankenstein's Monster - see if you can find him in the picture.  Meredith went trick or treating with Dada and Wyatt stayed home to pass out candy and scare the trick or treaters that came to our house.

After the trick or treating was over we all gathered in the family room with pumpkin shaped pizza's and the movie Monsters vs. Aliens.  It was a good Halloween. 

Welcome Baby Boy Fuller!!

Early Monday morning (4:30 a.m.!!!!), while Meredith and her Abi were still asleep, Mama and Dada slipped out of the house and headed for the hospital to welcome a new baby into the world. 

Once at the hospital, a team of health care providers helped prepare Mama and Baby for the big event.

Then, before you know it, our new little baby had arrived (no he was not born with a diaper, we just thought he deserved some privacy).

After many months of anticipation, at 8:20 a.m. on September 28, 2009, Mama, Dada and Baby met for the first time (that is Dada on the right in the first picture, surely you recognize the eyebrows).

While Mama and the doctors finished up, Dada and Baby went with the baby nurse to complete the official baby weights and measurements. (In case you were wondering - 7 lbs. 14 oz., 20 inches longs, 10 fingers and 10 toes - Mimi wins the prize for guessing the weight and Titi Yari wins for guessing the length).

After weights and measurements, Dada and Baby joined Mama, where Baby and Mama could rest and recover from a long and exhausting morning.

Later, some of Baby's new family members arrived to visit and take in the new bundle of joy.

We also sent pictures and movies home to Big Sister Meredith because she could not come to the hospital (children under 5 are not allowed).  Meredith (aka Thing 1) is so excited to meet and play with her new Baby Brother (aka Thing 2) that she is literally sitting on the edge of her scooter with anticipation (don't worry Meredith just a few more days).

As you can see, for better or ice cream, we are very excited to start our Fuller Four adventure and we'd like to do so by introducing you to the adorable (and somewhat sleepy): Wyatt Jonathan Fuller.

(Congratulations to Miss Marie, who wins the prive for guessing the name).

MEREDITH TURNS 3!

Meredith had her 3rd birthday this month. She is amazing. This year she chose to have a “Cat in the Hat” party.

We decorated with lots of bright colors.  We played a Cat in the Hat relay race and book balancing game. We did a candy bar search and played Mr. Brown charades.

We ate lots of little food, including green deviled eggs.Meredith and I made our first attempt at homemade birthday cake – probably won’t do it again, since it was an almost overwhelming failure.   We did make it into a cool Cat in the Hat shape, so at least it was really good to look at. We had brownies and a Cat in the Hat piñata.

Daddy put together the best slide show from Meredith's second year.  It gave us a chance to see her grow and get older - amazing I tell you!

 Most importantly Meredith had a good time.

 

What did we do this summer?

When I took Meredith out of school back in May I was thinking that we needed to spend as much time together as possible as a family so Meredith would be ready when Baby Boy Fuller arrived. Several people told me I was crazy. But my mind was set – I wanted Meredith to have a summer full of Mama and Dada so she knew how much we loved her. And yes, while this undertaking was much bigger (and challenging) than I anticipated (esp. this summer), I think that our summer vacation and family time was well worth it.

First thing I tried to do was set up a weekly routine of activities that we could loosely follow and give Meredith some consistency. So every week we tried to:

1. Go to the pool for a couple of hours at least once a week.

2. Go to storytime once a week.

3. Go to our Gymboree class once a week.

4. Go to the library to borrow books and play with the computers once a week.

5. Go to the playground once a week.

6. Have ‘Daily Lessons’ – we tried to review our numbers, letters or numbers – everyday.

Then I tried adding a few different activities here and there to add some variety:

1. Art time (at home or the library).

2. Bike rides (while I could still get on the bike) and long walks around the neighborhood to feed the fish and ducks/geese.

3. Cooking projects – we made cookies, soft pretzels, and homemade muffins and cupcakes.

4. Picnics at the playground or the pool.

5. Play dates with cousin Cian.

Then we had some Special Events during the summer that were fun:

1. Week at the beach to celebrate Uncle Travis’ graduation. Meredith also had her first experience on a boat – loved it!

2. Took a visit to the see the dinosaurs (which Meredith kept calling MONSTERS) at the Museum of Science.

3. Summer reading program at the library – Meredith won two books and a cool bag and toy.

4. Science experiment to see how flowers eat – we were only marginally successful.

5. Fourth of July BBQ and fireworks

6. Ice Cream party at the library.

7. Party for Baby Boy Fuller.

8. Cousin Cian’s Birthday Party.

9. Grand Finale – Meredith’s 3rd Birthday Party. (Pictures coming)

Now she is going back to school. So she can set up a routine, get some playtime with kids her age and so her Mama can finish getting the house ready for Meredith’s brother’s arrival. I hope that we have gotten her ready for the new addition to our family.